November 2013. Finding aid updated by Alyssa Carver to reflect the addition of materials inserted as Box 5, Folder 11.

The National Committee
for Labor Israel (NCLI) was an American fundraising organization closely associated with
Israel’s federation of labor and trade unions (Histadrut). NCLI
provided financial support for the Histadrut’s educational, health, and social programs in
Israel through national and regional solicitation campaigns. Major donors included Labor
Zionist organizations, American labor unions, and other Jewish community associations.
Financial problems eventually led to the dissolution of NCLI, and the bulk of this
collection documents its final decades of operation. A large portion of the records pertain
to development projects in Israel during the 1960s -1970s.

NCLI was founded in 1923 as the National Labor Committee for the Organized Jewish Workers
in Palestine. Following some minor name changes, the title of National Committee for Labor
Israel was settled upon by 1949 (see Box 1, Folder 1 “Articles of Incorporation”). The
primary function of the non-sectarian organization was to collect donations to aid the
growing immigrant population and urban development in Palestine/Israel. As the only
dedicated fundraising vehicle in the United States for the Histadrut (Israel’s labor
federation), NCLI helped establish social institutions that provided an infrastructure for
the newly founded nation. Aside from fundraising, the mission of the Committee included
strengthening the bonds between U.S. and Israeli labor sectors and "building support for and
educating the public about the achievements of Labor Israel." 1

NCLI was headquartered in New York City and oversaw regional fundraising offices in other
cities such as Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, and Philadelphia.
The Committee’s administrative structure encompassed a National Council, a Board of
Directors, an Executive Committee, a Trade Union Council, and the Histadrut Campaign
department (among others), but it is unclear what hierarchy existed between these or how
this reflected decision-making processes. This lack of clarity seems to have been a problem
within NCLI itself, as evidenced by contentious correspondence found throughout Series I and
II and repeated proposals for restructuring and reorganization. An additional source of
confusion may have been the name of the organization itself; while the “Histadrut Campaign”
was a major component of the Committee, donations and correspondence sometimes came to NCLI
erroneously addressed to, simply, “the Histadrut.” Other related but distinct entities
included the Histadrut Assistance Fund, the American Trade Union Council for Histadrut, and
the Histadrut Development Foundation.

In spite of their close association, the relationship between NCLI and the Histadrut was
complicated as well, at least as documented in the years covered here. The large bulk of
NCLI records related to Histadrut projects in Israel indicates a large amount of
coordination between the agencies was required. The labor involved in cataloging and
assigning thousands of sponsorship opportunities, transmitting monies between countries,
producing evidence of ongoing projects, and attaching the correct names and acknowledgments
to finished projects was considerable—especially in light of the fact that the organizations
operated in different languages in a mostly pre-computer workplace. The two periodically
accused each other of mishandling funds and disagreed about which of them had the authority
to resolve their disputes.

Between 1984 and 1990, NCLI was led by an Israeli-born Executive Vice President who
combined the office of Histadrut Representative to North America with his position at NCLI.
This did not improve relations between the organizations, and the years under his management
turned out to be catastrophic for NCLI. Revenue decreased, expenses increased, financial
reporting became irregular, and donor communities were alienated. 2

By the end of 1991, the regional campaign offices were closed and NCLI had to sell its
property at 33 East 67th Street to remain solvent. In 1993, the Committee moved into new
offices and began paying down its debts and liabilities, but these financial difficulties
ultimately proved insurmountable. In spite of efforts to keep the organization afloat,
operations were ceased in 2006.

The documents in this collection can generally be divided into two distinct categories. The
first is composed of the NCLI administrative and operational files, most heavily
representing a period of time from the 1980s through 2006. These records may be relevant to
a study of nonprofit administration, philanthropy in Jewish communities, the history of
philanthropic organizations, international labor issues, or the Histadrut. These documents
are modern, mostly word-processed and printed correspondence, memos, faxes, and emails, and
publications or articles of interest.

The Israeli project files comprise the second category (Series III). These are slightly older records, often in Yiddish
or Hebrew, many of which are transactional and contain little information. Collectively,
however, they document an ambitious state-building project and the substantial American
involvement in the development of modern Israel. These files include architectural plans,
correspondence, donor contracts, financial reports, photographs of projects during
construction, and pictures of the commemorative plaques affixed to finished projects.

The Committee records were transferred to AJHS in boxes that were numbered and labeled one
of three categories: Executive, General Files, and Projects. The processing archivist
retained these divisions when creating the three main series; an additional series was
composed of separated formats. The overall arrangement therefore closely follows the order
provided by NCLI, even where this order complicates description and is difficult to
understand. The administrative and general files were logically named and alphabetically
grouped, but the project files follow an idiosyncratic, numeric classification system.
Although NCLI provided two versions of an index to these files, both are incomplete,
inaccurate, and unwieldy. While maintaining the original order of these files during the
rehousing process, the archivist renamed the folders in order to provide better user access
and recorded the complete file inventory in the attached index. (View or download the
PDF file here.)

Access Restrictions

The collection is open to all researchers by permission of the Director of Library and Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society,
except items that are restricted due to their fragility.

This collection contains audiovisual or electronic media that requires special equipment to access. Please notify reference staff at reference@ajhs.org 24 hours in advance of needing access.

Use Restrictions

Information concerning the literary rights may be obtained from the Director of Library
and Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society. Users must apply in writing for
permission to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this
collection. For more information contact: American Jewish Historical Society, Center
for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY, 10011email:
reference@ajhs.org

AJHS holds another small collection that may be relevant to researchers interested in NCLI's early history, I-364 (Histadrut Collection). This
material includes campaign reports, convention journals, and promotional publications dating from the 1920s to the early 1960s.

Two corporate seal embossers have been removed from the collection due to their bulk and
weight: one inscribed National Labor Committee for the Jewish
Workers in Palestine, Inc., dated 1931; the other National
Committee for Labor Israel, Inc., dated 1949.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:Identification of item, date (if known);
National Committee for
Labor Israel Records;
I-535; box number; folder number; American Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY, and Boston, MA.

NCLI records were donated in two accessions, numbered 2006.19 and 2008.17,
transferred to AJHS by Jerry Goodman and Ann Stamler. In November 2013, Jerry Goodman transferred one
additional file to AJHS, containing materials related to the closing of NCLI.

Physical processing consisted primarily of rehousing material in archival folders and
boxes. This task was straightforward throughout the executive and operational files, but
Series III required a slightly
different approach. Many of these files held a single sheet of paper, or nothing at all,
or documents that did not match the information conveyed by the folder label. Because
information outside the folders was often more complete than the information within, the
archivist captured the folder label data in a complete file
inventory. To avoid transferring individual documents into their own separate
folders, slim project files were grouped together as they were rehoused. Sheets of blank
acid-free paper indicate the divisions between “projects” in these files, but the
archivist’s index should be consulted when navigating this series.

One oversized item, the guestbook in Box 89, has broken bindings and may
require treatment for leather rot. At present, it is isolated from the rest of the
collection and should remain stable while wrapped in acid-free tissue.

Additionally, several photo albums were disassembled, with individual photographs or
scrapbook pages placed in folders and sleeves as appropriate.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series contains records of NCLI’s various governing bodies during the last two
decades of operations: the Board of Directors, the National Council, and the Executive
Committee. It is unknown if these were in fact three distinct groups; their respective
titles were simply transcribed from the original file labels. All three seem to have
been active simultaneously from 1984-1985, but the Executive Committee disappeared
between 1985 and 1990, while the Council ceased to exist at all after 1989. Each group
appears to have had an irregular schedule of meetings. Sometimes the Board of Directors
and the Council held joint meetings, and other years they met separately; some years saw
six Executive meetings, while other years saw none. Although there are no folders for
Board meetings between 1990 and 1995, the Board continued to produce correspondence
during those years. The Executive Committee likewise didn’t meet between 1996 and 2000,
but became quite active again 2004-2005.

The items in this series dated earlier than 1984 tend to be more recent photocopies of
important documents rather than originals.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical, following the “NCLI General Files” index provided at the time of donation
(see accession file).

Scope and Content:

As the largest portion of the collection, this series probably offers the most insight
into the day-to-day work of the Committee. Aside from their Israeli projects, other NCLI
activities involved arranging travel programs for American labor leaders to visit
Histadrut institutions in Israel and sponsoring educational forums and receptions in the
U.S. for visiting Histadrut representatives. NCLI also produced serial publications
(evolving from print journals to email newsletters) that highlighted Israeli labor
issues and discussed relevant political and economic topics.

Folder titles were generally supplied by the original file labels (as with the previous
series). Some of the organizations and individuals listed were closely associated with
NCLI, while others were simply subjects of interest; the document types contained in
these folders may therefore vary from correspondence to grant applications,
publications, or resumes.

Some of the major correspondents include the Histadrut and Histadrut departments
responsible for NCLI-funded projects in Israel: Amal (a
network of schools and vocational education centers), the International Institute at
Beit Berl, Kupat Holim (a health service and insurance
organization), and Mishan (a social welfare provider
operating residential institutions for children and the elderly).

Much of the substantive information about NCLI’s post-1990 difficulties can be found
here in the memos and correspondence of Jerry Goodman and Jay Mazur.

Box

Folder

Title

Date

5

17

Abraham Fund - background

1992-1996

Box

Folder

Title

Date

6

1

Abraham Fund - grant application

1993-1995

6

2

Abraham Fund

1996-2000

6

3

Abraham Fund

2001-2005

6

4

Adler, Judge Stephen J.

2001-2005

6

5

AFL-CIO

1979-1983

6

6

AFL-CIO

1984-1986

6

7

AFL-CIO

1987-1988

6

8

AFL-CIO

1989

6

9

AFL-CIO

1993-1999

Box

Folder

Title

Date

7

1

AFL-CIO

2000-2006

7

2

AFL-CIO correspondence (Albert Nahmani)

2004

7

3

AFL-CIO Nobel Laureates

2005

7

4

AFL-CIO labor mission to Israel

1995-1997

7

5

AFL-CIO labor mission to Israel

1999

7

6

AFL-CIO labor mission to Israel

2000

7

7

AFL-CIO labor mission photographs

2000

7

8

AFL-CIO Solidarity Center

1999

7

9

AFL-CIO Solidarity Center (folder 1 of 2)

2000

7

10

AFL-CIO Solidarity Center (folder 2 of 2)

2000

7

11

AFL-CIO Solidarity Center accounting questionnaire

1999-2000

7

12

Amal - correspondence

1998-1999

Box

Folder

Title

Date

8

1

Amal - correspondence

2000-2001

8

2

Amal - correspondence

2002-2006

8

3

Amal - projects (folder 1 of 2)

1996-2005

8

4

Amal - projects (folder 2 of 2)

1996-2005

8

5

Amalgamated Life Insurance Company

1987-1995

8

6

Ameinu

2005

8

7

Ameinu

2006

8

8

America-Israel Friendship League

1997-2003

8

9

American Airlines (TWA)

2001

8

10

American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors

1991-1998

8

11

American-Israel Conference

1992-2002

8

12

American Israel Public Affairs Commmittee

1989-1997

Box

Folder

Title

Date

9

1

American Israel Public Affairs Commmittee

1998-2005

9

2

American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise

1994

9

3

American Jewish Committee

1987-2006

9

4

American Jewish Congress

1987-1994

9

5

American Jewish Yearbook listing

1988-2002

9

6

American Trade Union Council for Histadrut

1981-1990

9

7

American Trade Union Council for Histadrut - Illinois

1990

9

8

American Trade Union Council for Histadrut - Michigan

1990

9

9

American Trade Union Council for Histadrut - Minnesota

1984-1990

9

10

American Trade Union Council for Histadrut - Texas

1989-1990

9

11

American Zionist Federation

1984-1999

9

12

American Zionist Youth Foundation

1986-1995

9

13

Americans for Peace Now

1993-1998

9

14

Americans for Peace Now

1999-2005

9

15

Anti-Defamation League

1984-2002

9

16

Appelbaum, Stuart (RWDSU president)

2001-2003

9

17

Apple, Max and Eva - Children's Village

1960-2005

9

18

Apple Children's Village - Bayard Rustin Park

1987-1995

Box

Folder

Title

Date

10

1

Apple Children's Village brochure

1995-1996

10

2

Apple Children's Village - Medical Center

1995-1998

10

3

Apple Children's Village - Medical Center appeal letters

1995-1996

10

4

Arab Affairs

1987-2000

10

5

Armenian National Committee of America

2003-2004

10

6

Association of Joint/Labor Management Educational Programs

1999-2001

10

7

Avital, Ambassador Colette

1996-2005

10

8

Ayalon, Haim Ilouz

1999

10

9

Backdrop Histadrut (newsletter)

1984-1999

10

10

Bahr, Morton (CWA president)

1984-2005

10

11

Barak, Ehud (Prime Minister)

1996-2001

10

12

Bardacke, Ann

1987-1992

10

13

Bardacke, Judy

1991-2004

10

14

Barlas, Benjamin

1972-1998

10

15

Bauman, Lily

1993-1994

10

16

Beit Shalom

1997-2000

10

17

Ben-Eliezer, Benjamin

2002

10

18

Berger, Meyer

1985-1989

Box

Folder

Title

Date

11

1

Beth Hatefutsoth (Museum of the Jewish Diaspora)

1992-1994

11

2

Beyond Borders (folder 1 of 2)

1998-1999

11

3

Beyond Borders (folder 2 of 2)

1998-1999

11

4

Biographies and curricula vitae (alphabetical)

1994-2004

11

5

Blasberg, Carl

1987-1989

11

6

Bloch, Daniel

2000-2003

11

7

Bluestein, Irwin

2001-2006

11

8

Braverman, Ira (AFL-CIO BCTD)

2003-2004

11

9

Brit Tzedek v'Shalom

2002-2004

11

10

Brody, Frances

1990-1994

11

11

Bronchtein, Ofer

1998-2000

11

12

Butensky, Noga

1998-2004

11

13

Bykofsky, Sydney

1987-1997

11

14

Campaign for American Leadership in the Middle East (CALME)

2005

11

15

Canada

2002-2005

11

16

Canada: Institute for Public Affairs

2002

Box

Folder

Title

Date

12

1

Canadian Association for Labor Israel

1981-1984

12

2

Canadian Association for Labor Israel

1985-1986

12

3

Canadian Association for Labor Israel

1987-1990

12

4

Canadian Jewish Congress

2002

12

5

Canadian Labour Congress

1984-1987

12

6

Canadian Labour Congress

1988-2002

12

7

Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation

1995-2002

12

8

Chaikin, Sol C.

1985-1986

12

9

Children's Medical Center of Israel

1988-1994

12

10

Cohen, Ra'anan

1999

12

11

College of Management

1997-2001

12

12

College of Pluralistic Judaism

1998

12

13

Communication Workers of America

1978-1985

12

14

Communication Workers of America

1986

Box

Folder

Title

Date

13

1

Communication Workers of America

1987

13

2

Communication Workers of America

1988-1989

13

3

Communication Workers of America

1990-2005

13

4

Communication Workers of America - El Al strike

1978-1990

13

5

Communication Workers of America - Glenn Watts Center

1997-2006

13

6

Conference Calls

2001

13

7

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

1987-1989

13

8

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

1990-1991

13

9

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

1992-1996

13

10

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

1997

13

11

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

1998

13

12

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

1999-2000

Box

Folder

Title

Date

14

1

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

2001

14

2

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

2002

14

3

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

2003-2004

14

4

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

2005-2006

14

5

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations - Annual
Leadership Mission

2003-2004

14

6

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations - Annual
Leadership Mission

2005-2006

14

7

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations - LZA
membership

2000-2001

14

8

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations - Meretz
membership

1999-2002

14

9

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations - NCLI
membership

1999-2000

Box

Folder

Title

Date

15

1

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations - NCLI
membership

2001-2002

15

2

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations - Processes
and Procedures

Arrangement:

This series has been divided into four subseries, the largest of which is arranged in
numeric order according to the Histadrut’s project classification scheme. The three
smaller series were created to accommodate the files that didn’t follow this numbering
system but were clearly designated “Projects” by NCLI box labels.

Scope and Content:

The word “project” was applied broadly to a variety of donation arrangements. These
ranged in size and substance from constructing an entire hospital to buying an air
conditioner for a small synagogue. The projects were proposed and managed by the
Histadrut (or its relevant subsidiaries), and NCLI (or its local campaign offices)
matched these giving opportunities with American donors. Sometimes a group, such as a
local Workmen’s Circle branch, would pledge to fund a project over a period of many
years, but others were fulfilled with a single gift from an individual. The paperwork
attached to any single project, then, can vary in size and substance as well. For the
most part, the documents in these files are donation records or correspondence
pertaining to donation transmissions, project assignments, and donor acknowledgments.
Detailed information about donors is not likely to be found here, nor are there records
of the Histadrut’s decision-making processes regarding potential project sites.

Some of the Committee’s major long-term projects may be further documented in the General
Files series above, including: a number of Amal schools, the Max Apple Children’s Village,
the CWA Glenn Watts Cultural Center, and the International Institute.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Scope and Content:

The Bulletins dated 1954-1970 contain detailed lists of Histadrut projects awaiting
funding and the dollar amounts attached to each. They were distributed by NCLI’s
national office and seem to have been intended for the managers of campaign offices
rather than for donors. These Project Bulletins are divided by category but
unfortunately do not provide a key to understanding the project classification system.
The Project Bulletins and Briefing Book estimated to be dated 1987-1997 are less
comprehensive, contain photos of project sites, and appear more donor-oriented
overall.

The indexes were undated, but the one labeled “original” is clearly older, as the
entries are handwritten, typed in several different styles, and include layers of
annotations and corrections. The second index, which was labeled “Re-typed (needs to
be checked)” is a newer, word-processed document that basically reproduces the first.
These alphabetical indexes were likely created by NCLI staff in order to bypass the
arcane numeric filing system and enable them to look up files by donor name
instead.

Arrangement:

The filing sequence of this subseries is numeric, although the processing archivist
has provided descriptive titles as well. The numbering system is a three-position code
with forward-slash symbols dividing the digits in each position, and the physical
order of the files denotes that the code is read from right to left. The right-hand
number refers to a geographic location in Israel, and these values range from 1 to
198. The middle number refers to the category of project, and this value may range
from 1 to 17. (See the attached Project Code
Key for a full listing of middle and right position values.) The farthest
left digit appears to be arbitrarily or sequentially assigned. For example, if the
location code “3” represents Jerusalem and the category code “1” represents hospitals,
a folder numbered 1/1/3 would indicate the file contains records of the first
Histadrut hospital project in Jerusalem. However, a fourth digit was appended to some
projects, enclosed in parentheses in the farthest right position. This extra number
was used to subdivide large projects or differentiate between multiple projects at a
single location. Using the example above, 1/1/3 (2) and 1/1/3 (3) might refer to
different rooms or departments within the same hospital. Use of the parenthetical
number is not entirely consistent, though, and only affects the filing order after the
otherwise right-to-left reading of the slash-divided codes.

It became clear during processing that although the file order is sequential, many
numbers are missing or were never used. Additionally, a number of files were not
listed in either of the indexes, or were indexed under variant misspellings and
impossible to find. These facts contributed to the archivist’s decision to create a
complete Project File Inventory (attached
here) to capture all the folder label data. In addition to the numeric
codes, most files also listed the name and location of the donor, some description of
the project, and its location. The File Inventory includes this information and some
additional fields. The current box and folder location are listed next to the filing
code for each project folder. The next column contains the names of people or
organizations—usually this is the donor, but some projects were registered in honor of
or in memory of a different name. Extra names and other NCLI label notations are
enclosed in parentheses. The location noted in this column may record where the donor
lived but it more likely refers to which local NCLI office was handling the donation.
The project description column includes specific locations of project sites (when this
information was provided), but the archivist did not record the details of each gift,
such as “furniture,” “waiting room,””equipment” and so on. Following the date range is
a second file number field. The numbers assigned in Israel were sometimes
retroactively reassigned or edited to append parenthetical codes, which meant that
documents inside a given folder could refer to a number of different file codes
besides the one the label, so this column records those alternates. The last column of
the File Inventory notes just some of the spelling and transliteration discrepancies
found throughout this subseries. When it was easy to determine the predominant form of
a name (or place name), that was the one the archivist used. One final complicating
factor was quantity of files with detached or partial labels. Data interpolated by the
processing archivist is enclosed in square brackets.

The folder titles below, then, describe their contents at only the broadest level
and supply the range of the file numbers included, while the attached documents
provide a more complete map of this subseries’ arrangement.

Scope and Content:

As stated above, these files cover a wide variety of subjects, but there is some
consistency to the type of documents found in an average project file. Many have a
printed cover sheet with a series of blank lines for recording pledge amounts,
payments, and balances. Most files also contain a printed registration form with blank
lines for file numbers and project locations. The majority of these registration forms
are stamped with a 1964 date even if records indicate the project had been started
earlier. (Possibly this is the date the file numbering scheme was first implemented
and applied to all the projects already underway.) A nearly identical printed form was
used for mailing project photographs from Histadrut offices to NCLI. The slimmest
project files, those with only a single item, usually contained one of these three
pre-printed forms.

Approximately half of the project files contain at least one photo, and most of these
photos are of plaques. Some files contain more extensive pictorial documentation of
project construction, dedication ceremonies, or related events. Additional document
types may include: architectural plans, donor contracts, financial reports, and
correspondence with donors or the Histadrut.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical.

Scope and Content:

Files in this subseries were found at the end of the numbered sequence and in a separate box labeled
“Israel Projects Current in 2006.” Folders with project codes were incorporated into the previous subseries,
leaving these to remain apart. The contents are otherwise similar to the project files described above.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Scope and Content:

The periodicals in this subseries are included here primarily because they were labeled “projects” when accessioned from NCLI.
Histadrut Foto-News, which was published by the Committee, describes their development projects in Israel.
Shalom was published by the American Trade Union Council for Histadrut and more broadly addresses trade union
politics and topics relevant to Israeli labor.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Scope and Content:

Materials in this series were separated from the rest of the collection because their formats require special
handling and storage. Most is electronic media, and items that were unlabeled have been given titles that indicate
which folders they were removed from. The older Histadrut House Guestbook is in a state of mild to moderate decay, and
its exact origins are not known. It contains signatures, names, and some addresses, perhaps from attendees of NCLI events.